“The franchise was built on a foundation of creativity and innovation,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO ofActivision Publishing. “And with Skylanders Trap Team, we’re taking that that tradition of innovation to new heights. For the last three years we’ve allowed kids to bring their toys to life in a video game, and this year, we’re letting them reach into the game, and pull characters out into the physical world by letting players trap and play as the villains. Skylanders Trap Team is also the first console game to simultaneously bring the entire AAA experience to tablet devices. Overall, we think Skylanders Trap Team represents our most magical innovations yet. But most importantly, it’s just a great game.”

The latest installment of the franchise that pioneered the Toys-to-Life genre is already poised to become one of the top family games this holiday. Toys R’ Us® recently named Skylanders Trap Team as one of the “Fabulous 15” on the company’s 2014 Holiday Hot Toy List, while Target named Skylanders Trap Team to their Top Toys for the Holidays List. In addition, the game was featured in Toy Insider’s Hot 20 Holiday Toys of 2014, which highlights the most sought-after and anticipated items of the holiday season.

The game, continues to lead and evolve the category with Skylanders Trap Team by letting fans seek out and defeat the most wanted villains in all of Skylands, pull them out of the game and into living rooms by capturing them in magical Traps. Once they’ve defeated the villains, players will be able to place a Trap into the new Traptanium PortalTM to capture them. Players can then send villains back into the game where they can play as them to fight for good, reversing the magic. They will also be able to hear the villains inside the Traps, an innovation that truly brings life to toys.

To celebrate the launch, Portal Masters also visited some of the most iconic landmarks on Earth to ensure they are safe from the villains of Skylanders; bad guys were trapped in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, in a capsule on the London Eye, up the Kampenwand mountain in Germany, below the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles and overlooking the Sydney Opera House.

Portal Masters everywhere can get into the Skylanders Trap Team spirit by taking advantage of exclusive Skylanders products at retailers nationwide:

Skylanders Trap Team introduces heroes known as Trap Masters that wield powerful Traptanium™ weapons used to defeat Skylands’ most notorious villains including Kaos, as well as brand new Core Skylanders characters and reposed fan-favorite Skylanders characters. The game also features a variety of elementally aligned Traps with unique and interesting designs. In addition, Skylanders Trap Team welcomes Skylanders Minis, 16 small but powerful Skylanders now fully playable, who join the battle against Skylands’ most nefarious villains. Coming to fans worldwide on November 1, Eon’s Elite collectors’ toys feature never-before-seen decoration with a distinct, metallic finish and a golden base that sets them apart from other Skylanders toys.

Skylanders Trap Team is compatible with more than 175 unique toys from all previous games — Skylanders SWAP Force™, Skylanders Giants™ and Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure® — every character also will be able to defeat and trap villains using Traptanium Traps, providing fans more ways to enjoy their collections.